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Dear Is My Kid the Asshole, Question for you. Is my two-year-old a sadist? Sometimes, if she does something that hurts me, like hit me in the head with a toy, I say "Ouch! Please don't do that, it hurts!" She then gets the most evil grin on her face and it becomes her MISSION to do the thing that hurts me as much as possible for the rest of the day.

Have you ever taken a close look at any male bird and wondered why they don’t have a penis? No? Well, me neither (I’m not that much of a pervert!) But after writing my previous article on the Greater Vasa Parrot and their interesting sex lives, I learned that of the 10,000+ species of birds in the world, only 3% of them (which includes the Greater Vasa Parrot) have functional penises.

Welcome to Natural Wonders, where I hope to pique your interest each week by sharing some fascinating questions and answers about natural phenomena. If you’re new here or if someone forwarded you this email, you can subscribe below. Check out past posts by going here and see who I am and what Natural Wonders is about here. Last week when I was walking with Oscar on our property, I heard the rattle of a pileated woodpecker echo from the hillside above me.

In early August, , the leading publication in the finance category on Substack, announced that they were opting out of X (fka Twitter) and putting all their focus on Substack.The Doomberg team had built much of their brand and reach on Twitter through a strategy that leaned on getting their goggle-eyed green chicken avatar in front of as many people as possible through timely tweets, threads, and storytelling around their Substack posts.

Hating Nickelback is an American cultural pastime. A meme. It’s been a meme for 20 years. And to me it’s still funny. They might be the most hated rock band of all time — even more than, for instance, Led Zeppelin back in the early ‘70s when no one understood them yet. (Granted, many people still don’t understand Led Zeppelin. Which is understandable.) And yet, Nickelback is one of the highest-grossing bands in the world.

Over the last week and a half I’ve been puzzling over the question: What is it about Emily Mariko? Emily Mariko, if you’re not familiar, is the Tiktok influencer who hit massive viral success a couple weeks ago with a video of herself making a salmon rice bowl. It’s a very simple recipe: she smashes leftover cooked salmon with a fork, tops it with white rice and microwaves it with an ice cube, then mixes in kewpie mayo, sriracha and soy sauce and eats it with seaweed paper.

If your dog’s eyes take on a blue hue or cloudy appearance, there are several conditions that could be in play Five disorders that can cause a blue haze over your pet’s eyes include nuclear sclerosis, cataracts, glaucoma, corneal dystrophy, and anterior uveitis Some of these conditions are relatively benign; however, others are very serious and can lead to total blindness It’s important to have any change in the appearance of your dog’s eyes checked by your veterinarian or a veterinary ophthalmologist

It is happening. Last November, I turned 55 and became eligible to “retire” from the University of Colorado Boulder. Today, I submitted my formal “intent to retire” letter to my dean. Retirement is a funny word here — in Colorado, university professors do not receive pensions, so “retirement” just means that you can leave the employment of the university and keep your health care. I’ve also requested status as a an emeritus professor, which means keeping the title of “professor” and even more importantly, library privileges.

Matt Dahlia. Whenever I look at this newsletter’s name or the name on my passport; whenever I share with a friend that I’ve changed my last name, I can’t help but think: Wow, I’m really taking a wild turn. I decided to change my last name at the beginning of 2022. It was a multi-layered decision. A lot of it is too personal to go into here, but the ultimate reason was that I wanted a fresh start.